Can't see alternative layout once i add xml file

Question

I create a file "product.php" in "\templates\beez3\html\com_content\category" I can see it in "alternative layout option" but i can't see it in "menu item type".

Then i create a "product.xml" file. Now i can see it in "menu item type" but i can't see it in "alternative layout option"

Could anyone tell me why??

---

Rene Korss, thanks for your answer. Here is my situation. I have multi level category like this.

• Product
  • Printer
  • Fax Machines

i set a menu item as product.php and category is Product. It is fine in level 1 but when i go into subcategory. The page will use blog.php.

Is there anyway that i can make all category use product.php??

Answer 1

Alternative layouts

Docs says:

As with module layouts, the file must not be named the same as the core file and must not include underscores in the name. Additionally, there should not be an XML file of the same name in this folder.

So if there is XML file, it's considered to be alternative menu item, not alternative layout.

You could create one extra file for alternative layout and include product.php in it. But alternative menu item file should contain whole view, not part of it. So they should be different.

NOTE:

If there is a menu item set up for this specific category, that layout will be used instead of the alternative category layout.

View Docs: Layout Overrides in Joomla.